Mortgage rules eased

People in need of loans will no longer have to travel long distances to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Head Office for registration of their property as banks with mortgage products will soon be handling it.Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Chief Operations Officer at RDB, Clare Akamanzi, said the registration of property for mortgage services will be carried out by the banks.The development follows several complaints from rural people who had to travel all the way to RDB to register their property so as to enable them acquire loans from banks.“We are doing everything possible to make sure that in three months time, the service is handled by the banks,” Akamanzi disclosed.People who want to apply for loans will now approach banks in their localities..“We will be working with the banks in this process; the banks will receive the clients and we will be sending them the confirmation of the property registration,” Akamanzi disclosed.She noted that the system will address certain business challenges, including time wastage as well as reducing expenses, especially paying for transport and other unnecessary costs involved in undertaking formal registration at RDB headquarters in Kigali.When the Sunday Times visited RDB head office on Friday, people who were standing in long queues wanting to register their businesses looking tired while others were disgruntled.This is the second day I have come here to register my business and I urgently need a bank loan to improve it, but I have been disappointed with these long lines as I am wasting money coming back here,” said Jean Paul Habimana, a businessman from Musanze District.Speaking to the Sunday Times, the CEO of the Commercial Bank of Rwanda, Sanjeev Anand, said the new procedure would reduce on the fabrication of property presented by some people while requesting for loans.‘This system would curb the falsification of business property but the problem still lies in the districts not handling well the land registration. However, this is a welcome move,” he said.